Word on the street is that the pitside party after Harold Pohren's win at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on Friday night was a big one. And, after making a late race pass to score the win at 34 Raceway in Burlington as well, the stamina of his family, friends and fans were tested once again Saturday night. I'm sure that they passed with flying colors!
Tanner Gebhardt would race out to a comfortable lead in the 20-lap 305 Winged Sprint main event while two drivers were working their way up through the field. John Schulz had scratched from his heat race earlier in the evening, but whatever was ailing his car before had obviously been resolved as he was passing cars each lap after starting last in the sixteen-car field. The other driver on the move was Pohren who had started eighth and passed Jarrod Schneiderman for second on lap eleven.
Pohren was closing the gap on the young leader and had it down to five car lengths when the caution waved for a two-car tangle between Donnie Steward and Dillan Roth with three laps to go.
A three car spin near the back of the field negated the first restart and on the second try, when Gebhardt slipped up the track exiting turn two, that was all that Pohren needed to shoot to the lead down the back stretch. A Travis Howard spin in turn three slowed the field again with one lap remaining and while drivers behind him swapped positions on the restart, Pohren charged to his second win in two nights. Schneiderman made the pass on Gebhardt on that final lap to finish second while Schulz slipped under Evan Epperson to complete his big run up to fourth.
The IMCA Modified feature saw plenty of action in its 20-lap distance as veteran Rich Smith would lead lap one before racing three-wide along with Dennis LaVeine and Blake Woodruff in turn one on lap two. LaVeine would emerge from that trio to now lead the field before a caution waved for a three-car tangle in turn one involving Brandon Rothzen, Dustin Smith and Dugan Thye on lap five. Rothzen and Thye would restart from the rear while Smith's car was towed to the pits.
LaVeine would continue to lead while Rothzen used every inch of the track to get back into contention taking over the second spot at the halfway mark. Two laps later the caution would wave for a Darrow Lillie spin and following the restart Rothzen started to work on LaVeine. He tried him high, he tried him low only to have LaVeine fight him off until lap 17 when Rothzen hammered the cushion in turns one and two and sailed around the leader heading down the back stretch. Brandon would then pull away over the final three laps to score the "back to front" victory. LaVeine and Woodruff would run second and third while Jeff Waterman and Bill Roberts Jr. completed the top five.
Ray Raker raced to the lead on the first of sixteen laps for the Stock Cars and he then drove a solid mistake-free race to record his first win of the season. Chad Krogmeier kept him honest, but he had to ward off Jake Wenig through the closing laps to finish second. Tom Bowling Jr. came from the fifth row to finish fourth with Chase Klenk in fifth.
Seventeen IMCA Sport Mods checked in for racing, but only thirteen of them would be able to start the 15-lap main event with Dan Keltner setting the early pace. Sean Wyett wanted to quicken that pace though and he would drive under Keltner for the advantage off of turn four on lap three. Wyett was pulling away before Wesley Mayfield tagged the wall on the front stretch setting up a four-lap run to the checkers. With Keltner trying to fight off Austen Becerra and Brandon Lennox after the restart that allowed Wyett to pull away and win the feature with Lennox coming home second ahead of Becerra and Keltner. Ninth-starting John Oliver Jr. would bring the Cossel Racing #15 home in fifth.
Mike Morrill was the class of the field in the Mod Lite division again coming from eighth to take the lead on lap three and then pull away for the win. Jason Masengarb was equally impressive though as after his car spun in a ball of smoke during his heat race, the Quad City area driver started twelfth and raced his way up to second at the checkers. Jimmy Halcomb, Devon Rouse and Erin Turner filled out the top five.
Jacob Ogelsby would lead the first two laps of the 12-lap Four Cylinder finale before his right front wheel decided to strike out on its own in turns one and two. Defending track champion Kimberly Abbott would assume the lead on the restart and would then go unchallenged over the final ten laps to secure the win. Jerrod Nichols was running second mid-race before his pink car #15 started serving as a bank board for drivers going around him and following the second hard shot the radiator hose came loose and Nichols pulled to the infield with just a few laps to go. Brandon Lambert made his way from sixth to second, but could not chase down Abbott while Craig Bangert drove Lambert's "team car" tonight to a third-place finish.Ron Kibbe came from eighth to fourth while Larry Miller parlayed a front row start into a top-five finish.
Thanks to the entire 34 Raceway family for the hospitality and to the track's new announcer Tony Paris who had me come up topside where I could warm up in the booth on what became a bit of a chilly evening. The West Burlington track has a big double header coming up on Memorial Day weekend as Saturday's weekly show can be seen for just a $5 admission price, then on Sunday night the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be featured along with the "Lee County Late Models" and the Vintage Cars. Hope to see you there!
For this Sunday night though my plan is to take in another Sunday night of action at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton where the IMCA Late Models are back in town for the evening!
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